Equitable PCI Bank
PCIBank 1938-1967 (as Philippine Bank of Commerce) 1967-1977 (as PCI Bank) In 1967, Philippine Bank of Commerce was acquired by Meralco Securities Corporation (now First Philippine Holdings), owned by the Lopezes, and was renamed Philippine Commercial International Bank or PCI Bank. The first logo adopted with the new name had the name PCI Bank enclosed in a trapezoid with rounded edges. 1977-1992 (as PCIBank) In 1977, the trapezoid was redesigned, with a thicker outline and the PCI Bank names were merged to a unified PCIBank text, and was placed below the trapezoid and was enclosed in a rounded rectangle. In 1985, First Holdings sold its stake in PCIBank and was soon reclaimed by its original owners, the Lopezes, who also originally owned First Holdings, a few years later. In the same decade, John Gokongwei acquired 33% of PCI Bank. 1991-1999 In 1991, the logo was modified, dropping the rectangle. In 1993, the Lopezes' stake in PCIBank was placed under the management of the newly-formed Benpres Holdings, a holding conglomerate formed by Oscar Lopez and Eugenio Lopez Jr. In 1999, the bank's owners, Benpres Holdings, and JG Summit Holdings (owned by Gokongwei), sold their combined 72% stake in PCI Bank (30% by Benpres and 42% by JG Summit) to a consortium composed of GSIS, SSS, and the Equitable Bank. This was after Benpres began to suffer financial issues brought about by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Equitable Bank 1950-1998 (as Equitable Banking Corporation) On June 17, 1950, Equitable Banking Corporation was founded by Go Kim Pah as the first commercial bank in the Philippines licensed by the newly formed Central Bank of the Philippines (now Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas). 1998-1999 (as Equitable Bank) After nearly five decades of having used the same logo for almost all of its existence, Equitable Banking Corporation finally revamped its logo in 1998, abandoning the previous symbol for a new colorful flower, while maintaining the Equitable script. It was also during this time when the bank renamed itself as Equitable Bank. The flower has five new additional colors that signify the earth's elements and the bank's values: red (fire and prudence), orange (wood and benevolence), yellow (metal and rectitude), green (earth and integrity), and blue (water and wisdom). Equitable PCI Bank 1999-2007 In 1999, Equitable Bank bought the 72% stake of PCI Bank sold by Lopez and Gokongwei. Later that year, the two banks merged, with Equitable Bank as the surviving entity, absorbing all of PCIBank's assets, and was soon renamed as Equitable PCI Bank. The new logo of the bank is a slightly modified version of Equitable's logo: the trapezoid design of PCIBank's logo was retired for good, Equitable's newly-formed flower logo was chosen as the symbol for the merged bank, the PCI text was placed between the Equitable script and the "bank" text, and the text was colored in blue. The bank became defunct in 2007 after it merged with fellow universal bank Banco de Oro which became the surviving entity and absorbed all of its assets to become the country's largest bank in terms of assets, in one of the most daring mergers in the history of the Philippine banking business. Category:1938 Category:1950 Category:1999 Category:Defunct Category:Banks in the Philippines Category:Lopez Group Category:SM Category:JG Summit Holdings Category:Philippines